28 Years Later review. CW: a movie that is quite graphic in a number of ways, described as a matter of fact. No spoilers. 🙂
Alright, as promised: https://infosec.exchange/@Christian_Freiherr_von_Wolff/114802336599841155
Hopefully, I do this masterpiece justice without spoiling anything. This will amount to psychic vomit either way.
First off, the cinematography. It's some of my favorite if not my very favorite I've ever seen. That's because the way everything was shot and edited in this regard, according to the book, was wrong, and it worked. The 180 degree rule was intentionally broken. So was the rule that says that the character speaking is supposed to be facing negative space while facing away from the edge of the frame, I think; I swear there was some shot that was set up "wrong" in that way, and if I'm imagining that, it would make less sense in this context than it would if my memory is correct. There's at least one shot I can think of off the top of my head in which the frame was, almost comically, weighted "incorrectly" in the conventional sense. All of that was off the cuff, and I saw the thing once and then sat down to write this. That's how deliberately abrasive the cinematography is. The more rules you know, the more rules you know how to break, and by demonstration, there are a bunch of rules I've never even heard of because I felt like my head was about to explode—in a good way, of course. I don't even care that this was, technically, recorded using a bunch of iPhones. That's simply a technical matter, and to me personally, one of the least impressive things about any of this.
Now, let me be absolutely clear: there is full frontal nudity on full display throughout, and it's the kind that, by my estimate, appeals to absolutely no one sexually. That's the point. It's completely realistic. They're zombies. They've been out there for a while. They look like shit. They don't have clothes because they're not gonna need them where they're going, or already gone depending on how we're looking at this, I guess. That's just how it is; there's no getting around it.
Alfie Williams' performance is one of the best I've ever seen from anyone, of any age.
I had to try really hard not to laugh at the military dudes with their two flashlights per helmet, flanking both sides of their helmets. Because I've done that. With a bike helmet. I literally zip tied two flashlights to the sides of my helmet. It was amazing. I get it. It works. Really, really well.
The scene involving the tower of human skulls hit me especially hard, and not at all in a bad way, because of something I've actually seen IRL; I'll just leave it at that. While we're on the same topic, this is the first movie in years that's actually got a tear out of me, FWIW.
The extent to which violence is graphic is borderline if not properly comical, and they nailed it.
My only complaints are with a few instances of deus ex machina. The irony of what I just said in light of my display name on my other account is not lost on me.
#Movies #MovieReview #28YearsLater
